Mixologist

First thing’s first: Whoever you are, however you found this page, I appreciate you being here.

Hi! I’m Brendan. Welcome to Mixologist. I wanted to start off this little endeavor by introducing myself and giving a bit of background relating to music in my life. While I’m still not entirely sure what this endeavor is or what it will become, I think it’s important for whoever sees my stuff to have some idea of who I am and why I think the way I do.

Also, I wouldn’t consider myself much of a writer, but I’ll get better. Gotta start somewhere.

My musical foundation came to me through my family, which I’d imagine is a near universal experience. I have no doubt my eclectic taste in music came from my dad; pretty much all family and friend get-togethers in our backyard would be accompanied with one of his iTunes mixes. Jimmy Buffett, U2, Fleetwood Mac, and Van Morrison were frequent attendees at these events, along with whatever non-English song he had been rocking with that week (Dragostea Din Tei had a grip on our household for some time). He taught me the power music has to bring people together when shared with others. My mom, on the other hand, helped instill in my sisters and I the idea that music, family, and tradition were all inseparable. The owner of an Irish dance school, she’s (and by extension we’ve) probably racked up more listening hours of reels and jigs than most residents of the Emerald Isle. Almost every competition and fundraiser I went to growing up featured incredible bands of singers, guitarists, and fiddlers, giving me an instant appreciation of the artistry of live music and the power it has to lift people up.

Below is a playlist of many of the songs that surrounded me growing up, check it out if you’d like!

Despite this solid base from which to grow my obsession with music, I didn’t really fall head-over-heels in love with it until high school. This time of my life brought with it some pretty formative experiences: going to some of my first concerts on my own, joining the marching band, and playing minor roles in our school’s musicals my junior and senior years. The defining musical moment of this part of my life, though, had to be @videogame_piano.

I want to dive deeper into it in a future reflection post, but @videogame_piano was an Instagram account I posted on consistently from 2015 through around 2018. As the world’s most creative handle suggests, it was an account where I posted piano covers of songs from video games. I had been playing piano since kindergarten and took lessons at a classical conservatory from 2nd through 8th grade, which taught me a lot of the fundamentals of theory and technique, but it wasn’t until I stopped taking lessons that I felt free to dive into learning songs that brought me real joy (which, at the time, was 30 second 8-bit loops from The Legend of Zelda). This account was my way of expressing myself creatively while being able to connect with people across the globe around a hobby of mine that I didn’t have many people to talk about with. More than that, though, it helped me realize my passion for content creation and sharing music with others. I’ve since renamed the account to @brendansweeneymusic where I post the occasional cover of more “standard” music, and where I hope to show you all some original stuff someday, but all my old posts are still there too if you want to check it out.

As much as I loved this time of my life, I admittedly sheltered myself from music that wasn’t connected to gaming in some way. This remained true until I got to college. My first year in undergrad I joined an all-guys acapella group, which gave me an instant group of 16 musicians, music fans, and friends. I was exposed to so many new sounds in such a short period of time. Eventually taking on the role of Music Director gave me a newfound appreciation for song structure and harmony. I was able to truly unpack some incredible pieces of music and figure out why they elicited the feelings they did in us, and attempt to replicate that without the use of instruments. I also got to take that time to try learning how to sing, which helped me to find my voice in more ways than one. Earth Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder, and TOTO were all on repeat during my time in college, all forming a wonderfully nostalgic score over the most impactful time of my life so far. It was a blast building out the soundtrack that matched my own growth as an individual over a rollercoaster four years. Here’s a playlist capturing some of that craziness:

Following graduation, there were a lot of times where I felt like I wasn’t in control. Music was one of the few things in my life I felt like I could control. What mood I wanted to be in, what artist I wanted to deep dive into, what previously unknown genre I wanted to force myself to appreciate and find value in. Marianas Trench and Kanye West were two of the artists whose art helped get me through this time of uncertainty.

That brings us to today. One of the hardest questions for me to answer is “What kind of music do you like?” It sounds like a cop out, but my answer to that is always “all kinds.” One look at my Spotify stats will show you that I consistently hop around from the most mainstream pop to hip-hop, folk, alternative (whatever that even means any more), heavy metal, dubstep, instrumental jazz, country, reggae, soundtrack, and more. I’ll listen to just about anything you put in front of me, and have a blast telling you all about how it makes me feel.

I love music. Even more than that, I love loving music. It’s a little weird to write out, but I mean it when I say that the thought that at any moment I may encounter my new favorite song is one of the reasons I get out of bed in the morning. And the feeling of knowing exactly who to send it to? And having that person come back a month later and tell you it’s still in their rotation? It’s hard to describe, but it’s awesome.

So, here we are. A website and a few social media accounts where I hope to healthily take part in this infatuation I have. I find myself now in a similar place as I did back in 2015, with a strong desire to create and share. I want to give people a place to obsess over, tell stories about, give opinions on, and overall embrace this universal language we call music. If you don’t want to stick around, I get it. Once again, I appreciate you being here. But if you’re like me and want someone on your screen who will count down the seconds till album releases, compare discographies, tell you what I’m listening to at 3pm on a Tuesday, and above all appreciate music and how it enriches our lives, you’ve found the right place.

Thanks for reading.

For the Love of Music,

Brendan